Moon Knight Was Pitched As Raiders Of The Lost Ark In The MCU
No, much like Moon Knight himself, you're not dreaming. We really are living in a world where the upcoming series about the sleep-deprived and lesser-known hero with split personalities has become one of the most highly anticipated Marvel entries in the entire franchise. I'm not sure how many longtime comics fans could honestly claim that they believed they'd ever see the day when "Moon Knight" would have such talented actors involved as Oscar Isaac and Ethan freaking Hawke, let alone receive a primetime Super Bowl trailer in front of an international audience who may or may not be seeing this character for the very first time.
The newest footage gave fans plenty to dig into and chew over while waiting for the premiere of the Disney+ series, which itself came on the heels of Empire's reveal of their two "Moon Knight"-themed magazine covers. Now, with physical copies of those issues set to hit shelves later this week, we're receiving even more details about the character, the inspirations the creative team used to bring him to life, and the specific tone that Marvel is going for with their new series. To casual audiences, this hero is mostly identified by Oscar Isaac doing an incredibly funny accent, a somewhat divisive choice that the actor's not backing down from. To comic readers in the know, "Moon Knight" and his Egyptian influences will give the MCU a specific feel that no other movie or show in the franchise can brag about.
"Big, Fun, Supernatural, Amblin-style Magic"
Count series head writer Jeremy Slater among those most eager to see the hero's Egyptian roots translated into live action. He says as much in the latest issue of Empire, mentioning a very specific movie reference that helped him land his pitch for the show and will surely get viewers even more excited for what's to come:
"There's all this amazing stuff from Egyptology in the comics. 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' was actually my big reference when I first pitched. How can we tell this dark, complex story but also inject some big, fun, supernatural, Amblin-style magic at the same time?"
Contrary to popular belief, movies and shows can, in fact, juggle multiple tones throughout the story rather than limiting themselves to one specific mood. As dark and violent as "Moon Knight" may inevitably be, it really only makes sense to try and capture the same adventurous spirit and mythology-heavy influences of the Steven Spielberg classic. Of course, this wouldn't be the first time a Marvel project borrowed liberally from "Indiana Jones," either. Joe Johnston's "Captain America: The First Avenger" (by far the best of any of the "Captain America" movies, I said what I said!) didn't hesitate to make its inspirations known, even going so far as to have the villainous Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) acknowledge that "...the Führer digs for trinkets in the desert," cheekily teasing a shared fictional canon between "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "The First Avenger."
But the creative team behind "Moon Knight" didn't just stop there. According to Slater, they went so far as to bring in someone he calls a "real-life Indiana Jones," an actual archaeologist specialized in Egyptian tombs:
"He told us these crazy details. Like, inside the Great Pyramid of Giza there's a chamber that's inaccessible, but large enough to contain the Statue of Liberty. And no-one knows what's inside it. Those kinds of wild, real-life facts informed everything we wrote."
Sounds like we can expect no shortage of fictional lore intersecting with real-life mythology when "Moon Knight" premieres on Disney+ on March 30, 2022. Meanwhile, the April 2022 issue of Empire hits shelves this Thursday, February 17, 2022.